Cook Island Sevens grouped with Australia, Vanuatu

James Kora, member of the national Sevens team to Hong Kong Sevens this year, during training session earlier in the year. Cook Islands Sevens is placed with Australia and Vanuatu in Pool C of the Oceania Rugby Sevens Championships to be held in November. 18091331

Cook Islands men’s side is placed with Australia and Vanuatu in Pool C of the Oceania Rugby Sevens Championships to be held in November in Fiji.

The Vase Samania-coached side is seeded second in the pool after giants Australia.

The team will need to finish second in the pool play to advance into the quarter-finals.

The national women’s side is in Pool B alongside New Zealand, Fiji and New Caledonia.

The Oceania Sevens Championship which will be held in the first week of November will provide qualification opportunities for non-core teams such as the Cook Islands into the HSBC Sevens World Series for 2018/2019 period.

In the men’s qualification, the first highest placed non-core team in the 2018 Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship will (a) qualify as the 16th team to the 2018/2019 HSBC Word Sevens Series Legs in Hamilton (January 26 – 27, 2019) (b) qualify as the 16th team to the 2018/2019 HSBC Word Sevens Series Legs in Sydney (February 2 – 3, 2019) and (c) qualify for the 2020 HSBC Sevens Series Qualifier in Hong Kong (April 5th - 7th, 2019).

The second highest placed non-core team in upcoming tournament will qualify for the 2020 HSBC Sevens Series Qualifier in Hong Kong.

In the women’s qualification, the first highest placed non-core team in the 2018 Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship will qualify as (a) the invitational team to the 2018/2019 HSBC Word Sevens Series Legs in Sydney (February 2 – 3, 2019) and (b) the 2020 HSBC Sevens Series Qualifier in Hong Kong (April 5th - 7th, 2019).

Earlier, national coach Samania said they would try to get maximum days of preparation in order to do well in the tournament.

Last year Cook Islands finished as the second highest placed non-core team and participated in the Hong Kong Sevens tournament this year.

The pool draw of the Oceania Sevens was facilitated by Bruce Cook, Rugby Services Manager Oceania – World Rugby, and conducted by Fiji Rugby Union board member Mere Rakoroi and Peter Mazey, executive chairman of the Fiji National Sports Commission in Suva, Fiji this week.

The top four seeded men’s teams (Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Samoa) and two women’s teams (Australia and New Zealand) were allocated the top spot in each pool, with the remaining spots in each pool drawn randomly in accordance to the bands of teams ranked 5-8, 9-12 and 13th in the men’s section, and 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 in the women’s section.

The rankings were determined by the 2017 Oceania Rugby and HSBC Seven World Series placings.